Excerpts from addresses given by President Gordon B. Hinckley about the Book of Mormon.
No small thing
I think of the Prophet Joseph's struggle in getting out the first edition of the Book of Mormon. There were 5,000 copies in that first edition, and its printing was made possible only through the generosity of Martin Harris. You may be interested to know that last year 3,742,629 copies of the Book of Mormon were distributed. All or substantial parts of the book are printed in 85 languages. We may not be flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon, as President Benson had urged us to do, but let me say that it is no small thing to distribute three and three-quarter million copies in a single year. — From October 1995 general conference
Two witnesses
The Bible is the testament of the Old World. The Book of Mormon is the testament of the New World, and they have come together as two witnesses, not one only, but as two witnesses of the divinity of the Son of God. What a marvelous and wonderful thing it is, and if you have never read the Book of Mormon, my friends, I urge you with all the power within me to get a copy of this book and read it carefully and prayerfully, and the God of heaven, by the power of the Holy Ghost will reveal unto you the truth of this book. — From Chicago, Ill., member meeting, Oct. 18, 1998
Book of Mormon
Before the Church was organized, Joseph Smith borrowed from Martin Harris and entered into a contract with E. B. Grandin of Palmyra to print 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon at a cost of $3,000. That was the beginning of the temporal work of this cause. It was necessary if the Book of Mormon was to spread its testimony among the people. From that very small beginning we have now reached a point in the printing and distribution of the Book of Mormon where we produce 6 million copies each year. By the end of the year 2000 over 100 million copies will have been printed. It is obvious that we must print the book if we are to get it out to the world as another witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The printing is a temporal undertaking for a spiritual purpose. — From BYU Marriott School of Management International Executive of the Year award dinner, Nov. 6, 1998
Nothing of greater importance
I would like to urge every man and woman . . . and every boy and girl who is old enough to again read the Book of Mormon during this coming year. This was written for the convincing of the Jew and the Gentile that Jesus is the Christ. There is nothing we could do of greater importance than to have fortified in our individual lives an unshakable conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the living Son of the living God. That is the purpose of the coming forth of this remarkable and wonderful book. May I suggest that you read it again and take a pencil, a red one if you have one, and put a little check mark every time there is a reference to Jesus Christ in that book. And there will come to you a very real conviction as you do so that this is in very deed another witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. — From Corpus Christi, Texas, regional conference, Jan. 7, 1996
Another witness
Think of [this] tremendous book of 522 pages, which is being read across the world. More than 3 million copies of this marvelous record were distributed last year alone. No one, I am satisfied, can prayerfully read the Book of Mormon without coming to a knowledge that it is what it purports to be, and that is another witness of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking out of the dust to those of this generation concerning the Redeemer of the world. — From Ricks College regional conference, Rexburg, Idaho, Oct. 29, 1995
Power of the Holy Ghost
This so-called Book of Mormon, this scripture of the New World, is before us as an added witness of the divinity and reality of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the encompassing beneficence of His atonement, and of His coming forth from the darkness of the grave. Within these covers is found much of the sure word of prophecy concerning Him who should be born of a virgin, the Son of the Almighty God. There is a foretelling of His work among men as a living mortal. There is a declaration of His death, of the lamb without blemish who was to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. And there is an account that is moving and inspiring and true of the visit of the resurrected Christ among living men and women in the western continent. The testimony is here to handle; it is here to be read; it is here to be pondered; it is here to be prayed over with a promise that he who prays shall know by the power of the Holy Ghost of its truth and validity. (See Moro. 10:3-5.) — From April 1994 general conference
Conversion of the heart
[Mormon] was the chief compiler of the book which is called after his name and which has come forth in this period of the world's history as a voice speaking from the dust in testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has touched for good the lives of millions who have prayerfully read it and pondered its language. May I tell you of one such I recently met in Europe. He was a businessman, successful in his undertakings. In the course of his travels he met two of our missionaries. They tried to set up an appointment to teach him. He put them off, but finally agreed to listen. He somewhat perfunctorily accepted what they had to say. He became convinced in his mind that they spoke the truth, but he was not moved in his heart. He decided that he would read the Book of Mormon. He said that he had been a man of the world, never given to crying. But as he read the book, tears coursed his cheeks. It did something to him. He read it again and felt the same emotions. What had been conversion of the mind became conversion of the heart. His way of life was altered, his perspective changed. He threw himself into the work of the Lord. Today he fills a high and holy calling in the cause he has come to love. — From October 1990 general conference
